February 24, 2025 • 39 mins
This week we sit down with Channel 5’s Joe Schmit who shares that through “silent impact,” we make our biggest impressions when we are not trying to be impressive. Success and happiness are not related to titles or how many awards one has received, but to the impact we have on others.
Joe covers a variety of topics, from the long sports drought for championships in Minnesota, his experience as a lymphoma survivor at the Masonic Cancer Center, and how all of us can reconnect in a meaningful way.
“If you become more aware and intentional, that’s when you have that impact on others. How consistent are you aligning your actions with your values when nobody’s looking?”
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello again, everyone.
(00:00):
Welcome back.
It's another episode ofMinnesota Masonic Histories and
Mysteries.
My guest today is a naturalstoryteller who knows how to
engage audiences in a way thatleaves them feeling inspired.
He was inducted into theNational Speakers Association,
Minnesota Chapter Speakers Hallof Fame in 2019.
Through research, he hasdiscovered that through silent
(00:23):
impact, we make our biggestimpressions when we are not
trying to be impressive.
And that is what silent impactis all about.
Success and happiness are notrelated to titles or how many
awards we've won, but to theimpact we all have on others.
With over 30 years of experienceas a television broadcaster, he
(00:45):
has a knack for asking the rightquestions and helping people of
different personalities cometogether for a common purpose.
The Silent Impact mindset is agame changer, and I know this
because our guest spoke at theGrand Lodge Leadership Academy
earlier this month.
You know our guests from Channel5 on KSDP.
Welcome to our studio, JoeSchmidt.
(01:06):
Well, thank you, Reid.
It's great to be here again.
It was really fun to speak atyour leadership event, too.
Well, and having heard you speaka few weeks ago, Before we
discuss that and Silent Impact,tell us more about you.
Where did you grow up?
Where'd you go to school?
I grew up in a small townoutside Green Bay called
Seymour, Wisconsin, about 13miles from Green Bay.
(01:28):
And I went to school at theUniversity of Wisconsin La
Crosse.
We like to call it the Harvardof the Midwest.
Um, it's really, but, uh, youknow, I went to school read with
the idea.
I wanted to be a TVsportscaster.
Really?
Yeah.
From way back all the way.
Yeah.
You know, I was a high schoolathlete and I was a pretty
average athlete, but I lovedsports And I all of a sudden
(01:49):
realized I was never going toget a college scholarship.
And somebody said to me, youknow, Schmidt with your love of
sports and your big mouth, youought to become a sportscaster.
And really, it was the firsttime It even crossed my mind,
and from that day on, I wantedto be a sportscaster.
Being an average athlete myselfin those formative years of
school, what sports were youpassionate about, or what did
(02:10):
you play?
Well, in high school at thattime, we could only play three
sports.
If we could play more, I wouldhave.
I, I played football, Iwrestled, and I played baseball,
but I golfed and, you know, Idid, did a bunch of other stuff
too, you know, with, with, uh,friends and, you know, I always
say we didn't have ESPN backthen yet.
If we had ESPN, I would havebeen sitting there watching TV
(02:32):
like crazy.
I learned math by studying boxscores and I knew everybody, you
could name a major league teamand I could run through their.
Batting order and they're lyingup.
Really?
Yeah.
I was that crazy back then.
So it's probably a good thingthat SportsCenter wasn't around
yet.
what was your favorite baseballteam in growing up?
I liked, uh, the Atlanta Bravesand Hank Aaron.
(02:54):
So, uh, I followed Hank Aaron onhis pursuit of Babe Ruth and in
my house in Seymour, the radio.
So I would go.
We'd go upstairs in the upstairsbathroom, and I could get WSB at
7 50 a.
m.
And I listened to Hank Aaron,probably from about 650 home
runs past 7 14.
(03:16):
Wow.
And that radio station was thatlocal?
Was that a flamethrower fromsomewhere across the country?
Because look, flamethrower.
Yeah, it was Atlanta.
It was, uh, skip carry.
and his son, I don't think itwas related to Harry Carey, but
his son became a big broadcastertoo.
for years, uh, you know, um,that, that was my deal.
Even back then we didn't evenhave jerseys for sale.
(03:39):
Out of sporting news, I bought at shirt that said property of
the Atlanta Braves and I worethat sucker out.
But You know, you think back tothe day that marketing people
weren't even thinking in mind,you know, if we made a Hank
Aaron Jersey, some kids mightspend money and buy it.
I would have had five of them.
that's very true.
How did that not cross someone'smind along the way that we could
(04:02):
sell souvenirs?
On a mass scale that would verylikely turn a few dollars.
Yeah.
Think about the souvenirs fromback in those days in sports,
you might get a pennant andit's, yeah, you might get a
button, but nobody did peoplenot know what marketing was.
I mean, seriously, all the moneythey left on the table.
Now, of course, they'll sellanything.
(04:24):
They'll sell their soul to makemoney.
Anybody who's been to Fenwaypark can now see the other side
of the.
Yeah.
It's, it's pretty universalright now.
It's, uh, The whole game haschanged.
It's, it really is about moneyand it has gone down to the
college level and.
You know, the N I l and themoney these kids can now make.
It's kind of wrecking the purityof the sport.
(04:46):
And, you know, there's so manygood athletes and good stories.
But, uh, and I don't want to bethe old guy who said back in the
old days, but it is different.
I agree.
And I wish we had time to devoteto an entire episode about the
transfer portal in college.
But that really is.
And maybe I sound like the oldguy, but there was something
magical about a team hockeyteam, basketball that started
(05:08):
out as freshmen.
Maybe they didn't have a greatseason, but they came together
the chemistry factor by the timethey're seniors, they went to
the playoffs, they won thetitle.
Whatever that looks like.
The ability of a player now tobe frustrated and say, You know
what?
I'm not getting enough playingtime.
I'm not getting enough whatever.
And I'm just going to bail andgo someplace else.
It's a little grass is alwaysgreener.
(05:30):
Is it not?
Oh, yeah.
But you know, how would you liketo be a coach?
You're trying to develop one ofthese kids and you yell at them,
you push them, you get them outof their comfort zone.
And the next thing you know,they leave because you're
yelling at them and you'repushing them and you're getting
them out of their comfort zone.
Yeah.
And that's that's what'shappened.
And, uh, yeah.
I would hate to be a coachtoday, but I once again, I
(05:51):
don't, you either adapt to thewhat's going on or, you know, or
it passes you by.
So true.
We have to keep our focus movingforward.
On all fronts of life.
Now, how did you end up fromWisconsin in Minnesota?
Did your journey take youelsewhere before you ended up in
Minneapolis St.
Paul?
I worked in La Crosse at a smallTV station there.
(06:12):
I started my junior year incollege.
And then I went to Cedar Rapids,Iowa for one year.
And then I worked in Green Bay,my home market.
I was called to, had a chancethere.
And I worked there for fiveyears and I was Probably
planning on being a lifer, but Ihad my, is that all there is
moment.
I decided to, as my contract wascoming up, I decided to send out
(06:34):
a few tapes just to see what wasout there.
And KSTP came a calling and um,and I took it and I've been here
since 1985.
Forty years.
That seems impossible.
I know it does seem impossible.
It's, it's been, it's been crazyand I blame myself for a lot of
the failure in Minnesota sportsbecause Minnesota of all the
(06:56):
major markets, when you look atthe four main male professional
sports, obviously the links havedone very well.
Yes.
But when you look at the fourmain professional sports, any
market in the country that hasthose, Minnesota's has the
longest drought right now.
The last time they won achampionship in men's sports was
91 with the Minnesota Twins.
(07:17):
I mean, the hockey team, thebasketball team, nobody stumbled
into a championship in all thoseyears, which is crazy.
But you're taking the blame?
I'm taking the blame.
I think that once if I, when Iretire, I think then they're
going to start winning just totick me off.
You can say, I was there when.
Yeah.
Exactly.
I don't understand.
(07:37):
so you've obviously seen somevery big moments working right
next to say the twins and theirrun in 87 and 91 and other
playoff, shall we say, well,aspirations of the other sports,
but how amazing has that been tohave that front row seat?
I consider myself pretty luckyyou know, the business is
obviously changed and I thinkthe way.
(07:59):
I like being in great venuesthat have great energy and there
are great storylines.
the big events are great.
You know, going to a Super Bowlis great, but, but at the same
time, you can have just as muchfun at an MIAC game or a high
school game or the state highschool hockey tournament.
(08:20):
where it's all kind of naturaland grassroots, and it just kind
of happens.
And that's happened inprofessional sports, too.
You know, I think back to whenthe Twins had their homecoming
in 87.
They had just won the AmericanLeague pennant, and they came
back from Detroit, and they hadthis rally at the Metrodome, and
they expected 10, 000 people.
There were 60, 000 people there.
The players were crying.
(08:40):
It was unbelievable.
One of the great moments that Ican certainly remember.
I know you've been covering alot of sports, but.
As far as covering.
I know this past weekend.
You were covering the girls highschool tournament is, Is there
an area that you really enjoy?
Or is it all sort of blurtogether?
Well, the good thing is aboutthe time you get tired of
(09:00):
football or baseball or hockey.
There's another season.
And there are so many sportsgoing on here.
I never get bored.
Um, you know, there are times aseason can get long.
No, I, uh, I pretty much, I gofor the stories and, and, you
know, you as a journalist,you're not really supposed to
root for the home team, but Iroot for the home team just
(09:21):
because then they're morerelevant.
The stories are better.
You know, it's, you get a littlemore coverage, you get more time
on the air, all those kinds ofthings.
It's a lot more fun to cover awinning team than having to be
negative and going and rippingthem the heck because they're,
you know, they, they're doingterrible on the field.
So true.
And speaking of the connection,when you spoke at our Leadership
(09:41):
Academy a few weeks ago, you hada very powerful story about Joe
Maurer that you shared.
Can you give us a recap of thatfor our listeners that may not
be familiar?
Yeah.
Joe Maumer when he was in highschool.
You got to realize he was thebig man on campus.
Joe was simply the best highschool athlete the state of
Minnesota has ever produced.
He could have been a snobwalking around with his head
(10:01):
held high above everybody.
Joe saw a young student who wasblind, eating by himself in the
lunchroom, and Joe invited himto sit down at his table.
And it became an everyday thingwhere Joe literally walked Mike
Halle, arm in arm, down thehallway, invite him to sit down
to lunch.
I knew about that story forabout 15 years and didn't do
(10:22):
anything on it.
When I started speaking aboutpeople who make an impact, when
I got into the whole idea onsilent impact, which is the
title of my first book, I said,this is the perfect story.
So not only did I talk to Joe, Italked to Mike, I talked to six
guys who sat around that tableevery day and I started seeing
how much impact this one move ofkindness had.
(10:45):
Well, this story is, has gone onto You know, other heights, a
charity started because of it.
A woman read the story in thebook and was inspired and
started a mental health charityfor junior high and high school
kids.
uh, Joe and I got together withhis wife and we decided to write
a book and we've been able toraise 125, 000 so far for two
(11:06):
different charities.
All the proceeds going to thumbsup for mental health, the
charity that started and theHighland Friendship Club, which
is Joe Mauer's favorite charity.
So So the, uh, basically the onesmall act of kindness is having
this pinwheel effect.
You know, it's the snowballgoing down the, the hill and
it's just gaining momentum andmomentum and you'll hear about
(11:28):
something coming up in about midMarch.
Excellent.
And the information you sharedat the academy, you had a video
to go with this, it became veryapparent immediately that Joe
didn't do this to be showy or tosay, Hey, look at me.
I'm.
He just out of the kindness ofhis heart, made a very sincere
(11:48):
gesture towards someone That issomething so needed in our world
now with kindness and, and I'vereally enjoyed your book, by the
way, silent Impact, looking atthings a little differently.
Maybe it's the social mediageneration where.
Sometimes people get preoccupiedwith I'm going to do an act of
kindness, but I'm going to takea selfie while I'm doing it,
(12:12):
which any act of kindness isgood.
However, there's a certain levelof influence and impact that can
be very subtle and yet powerful.
And you really nailed that.
And then it becomes contagious.
Because other people do it too.
And you'll do it again becauseit makes you feel better inside.
And when you talked about, youknow, Joe Mauer, I've covered
(12:35):
them all.
You gotta realize I've been herelong enough and covered every
major professional or amateurathlete in Minnesota.
Joe Mauer is the most humblesuperstar I've ever met.
That's who he is.
That's who Joe is yet today.
I tell the story as Joe and Iwere working on the book, I
mean, this is just the kind ofthing that you hear stories,
(12:56):
well, it just happens, ithappens.
So I was talking to Joe on thephone, it's a Saturday, and I
said, Joe, you're in the car,where are you at?
He goes, well, I'm about 50miles out of Wichita, Kansas.
I said, what are you doing inWichita?
Well, when Joe was in highschool, he played on Team USA
two years in a row, and twoyears in a row, um, A family
from outside Wichita put him upin their home for a week while
(13:19):
he practiced with Team USA,because that's where they
practiced.
He was going to their 50thwedding anniversary.
No kidding.
And I'm sitting there going,hold it.
So this family who, you know, 30years ago or 25 years ago.
Right.
You know, they put you, housedyou for two weeks.
He stayed in contact with themall the time.
They went to a lot of his games.
(13:40):
And on his own, you know, he gotinvited, I would have blown it
off, right?
I'm not going to Wichita for aparty.
Send a card.
Yeah, send a card, flowers, youknow, whatever.
Here's Joe, flew to Wichita,rented a car and was driving 50
miles.
But, but so that tells you whathis heart is and it tells you
who he is.
And there's story after story onthat.
(14:01):
Because of that, he makes thistremendous impact.
Imagine what it felt like tothese people to have.
A Hall of Fame baseball playerwalk into this party, can't even
fathom.
Yeah.
Special memory beyonddescription.
The story of Joe is amazing.
I bet we could talk about thatfor an extended amount of time
on this podcast.
I'd like to hear more about whatled to the creation of the book
(14:25):
of Silent Impact.
Was it a series of thingshappening beyond Joe's story or
how, how did you, how did itcome about?
Well, because I'm on TV and youknow, I'm, I'm no different than
anybody else, but I just happento work in public.
Um, you get asked to speak at alot of different events,
(14:45):
athletic banquets, you know,Optimist Clubs, Lions Clubs,
Chamber of Commerces, MasonicLeadership Academy.
Well, but, but I'm talking aboutin the early days, early days,
and I used to go and I would saywhat it was like to be in the
locker room in the 80 with sevenand 91 world series.
And what it was like coveringRandy boss.
And I quickly realized I wasgoing to dislocate my shoulder
(15:07):
patting myself in the back.
It was all about me.
And I, I, it took me, I don'tknow how I realized it.
I think some guy said, uh, someguy said something afterwards,
he goes, that was a pretty goodname dropping speech and it hit
me.
Talk about a silent impact.
And all of a sudden I realized Ihave to start telling better
stories and stories that caninspire people.
(15:29):
So that's what I did.
I changed my tone.
And right about that time I, Iran into a guy who used to cover
for the Minnesota Gophers by thename of Walter Bond.
And Walter Bond is one of thetop professional speakers in the
country.
Walter heard me speak at anevent.
And Walter said, we're havingcoffee tomorrow, I said, okay.
(15:50):
And when he said, you got tobecome a professional speaker,
here's what you got to do.
He gave me 10 things to do.
He was running a bootcamp in acouple of weeks.
I went down to Florida for thisbootcamp and I became a
professional speaker.
I did everything Walter said.
I had 10 things out of thatlist.
And one of them is I hired acoach, and I, I, I hired a coach
who I worked with, uh, probablyevery week for about two months,
(16:13):
we were going through all mystories and all my content, and
I really hadn't come up withwhat this is all about, and I
said, you know, it's, it's likethese people, I was telling her,
it's like these people have asilent impact on who they touch
and how they, you know, they,she said, what'd you say?
I said, Oh, it's like they havea silent impact.
She goes, that's the name ofyour first book.
That's the name of your speech.
(16:34):
That's what you're going to baseeverything off of.
Every single one of your storiesis about people who make an
impact and how they can be moreaware and intentional, the
impact they have.
That's when it changed.
That's when all of a sudden Ihad people calling me.
I had people saying, have youever spoken, you know, to, to
the Masonic?
You know, have you ever spokenhere?
Have you ever spoken there?
And, uh, you know, now I'mspeaking 50 times a year.
(16:58):
All over the country, and it'snot just a Minnesota thing
because they know me from TV,and I just signed a deal last
week with a company inConnecticut, you know, so.
Amazing.
Yeah, so, and it's been kind offun, and I have enough vacation
time, and I'm able to work itaround, and every once in a
while you'll get a nice wintertrip to Florida or something,
(17:20):
then my wife can come, we canextend for a few days, so,
Little sunshine doesn't hurt,especially this time of year as
we're recording in February.
as you go out and speak, how dopeople respond to perhaps the
uncomplicated way that we canhave a positive impact on those
around us?
Do you ever find that peoplefeel like, well, it can't be
(17:42):
this easy, or I have to do somebig showy production in order to
quantify my gratitude to someoneor to do an act of random
kindness.
Well, I think that sometimespeople kind of need to be
reminded.
I think we all kind of know it,sometimes you give them some
simple tools.
I think there's power in storiesand I don't use a lot of slides
(18:05):
in my presentation and onereason I don't is because when I
tell a story about my dad owninga bar, I want people to paint
that picture themselves.
It's like reading a book andthen going and seeing the movie.
What's the number one commenteverybody says?
The book is better.
You know why they do that?
Because they have painted theirown picture.
(18:26):
That character, they know who heis and what he looks like.
Or who she is and what she lookslike.
That bar, they know what itlooks like.
They have placed that somewherein the back of their mind.
And so, there is power in thesestories.
And I think, many times, thereaction I get from people is, I
was that person.
Or, they come and tell a storyabout someone who made an impact
(18:47):
on them.
And then I'll say, have you goneback and thanked them?
No.
I said, now that's your job.
You can have, you can return thevolley.
so it's, it's been veryrewarding that way.
I, I know sometimes that peopleactually think when they hire
me, I'm going to tell sportsstories.
Well, when I talk about JoeMaurer, there's no inside
pitches on Joe Maurer.
(19:07):
I'm not talking about what his,you know, batting average is
and, and, you know, how manytimes he was able to hit the
clutch.
Not at all.
I'm talking about him as a humanbeing who just happened to be a
Hall of Fame baseball player.
Will you tell the story of yourdad and the bar?
well, I grew up in a bar and mydad ran the bar.
And my dad had a gift and hisgift was he made everybody feel
(19:29):
like they were his best friend.
a long story short, this bar wasalso one of three places in a
small town that had the firealarm for the local volunteer
fire and rescue unit.
So when the fire alarm rang, weknew something was up and one
morning I was in the bar with mydad and The the phone rang and I
could see something was wrong.
Well, my dad really only had onebest friend and his name was Mr
(19:51):
Leash and what I found out laterthat call that morning.
Mr.
Leash had been killed in the caraccident and Anyway, I remember
my mom and dad were reallyreally sad at the time And Mr.
Leach had a son whose name wasDonnie.
I was nine years old at thetime, Donnie was eight.
And before I knew it, Donnie wascoming to all of our family
events.
Donnie would come whether it wasa basketball game or family
(20:13):
reunion, Donnie got invitedalong.
I lost track of Donny, eventhough I knew my dad was still
seeing him all those years.
And the next time I saw Donny, Iwas 25 years old and, and Donny
was crying, it was at my dad'sfuneral.
And I can still see it out of mymind's eye, Donny crying at my
dad's funeral.
And I thought, boy, my dadreally had an impact on Donny.
(20:36):
About a year before my fatherpassed away, I'd become involved
in the Big Brothers, LittleBrothers program.
I was matched up with a kid bythe name of Jim from a single
parent family.
I wasn't sure why I became a BigBrother.
After my dad's funeral, it tookme a while.
I was, I was running a charitygolf tournament in the Twin
(20:59):
Cities for Big Brothers, BigSisters.
And the executive director ofBig Brother says to me, you
know, Joe, through the years,your, your family's all come up
and supported you at thetournament.
I never met your dad.
He said, tell me about your dad.
And I started talking about mydad, and that's when it hit me.
My dad had been a big brother toDonnie.
I became involved in the BigBrothers because of the silent
(21:21):
impact my dad had on me.
I was not sure why I did.
Now it was crystal clear,because that's the way silent
impact works.
You know, This organization hereis all about values.
And if you can ride your valuesand be consistent on your values
(21:41):
That's when, and make valuesyour purpose, that's when you
can have an impact on others.
And you never know when you'regoing to have that impact.
You never know when the personsitting next to you is going
through something really heavyand they just need to feel
valued and acknowledged thatday.
and if you become more aware andintentional, that's when you
have that impact.
That's when you have that silentimpact.
(22:02):
And it can go on and on for along, long time.
I remember jotting down at ourMasonic Leadership Academy, you
said, when you align youractions with your values, that's
when purpose happens.
And it's a lot harder to do thanit sounds like, you know, how
consistent are you aligning youractions with your values when
(22:24):
nobody's looking?
it's funny, I, uh, I belong tothis men's group over 50.
We work, we work out togetherand we talk about things.
And, and one of the, one of thethings.
One of the lines that I rememberfrom this group is, what you eat
in private, you wear in public.
And I thought that was, Ithought that was very profound
(22:44):
because I think that's the wayvalues are too.
What you do in privateeventually shows up in public.
So, if you're a phony baloney,your values aren't going to
always be very consistent.
We all make mistakes, we're allgoing to slip, we're all going
to have moments we wish we hadback.
but if you try to be consistentand you try to do that one extra
(23:04):
impact every day, I think itreally changes things.
It's something we talk aboutfrequently in the Masonic
family.
we stand for many core values.
I try to take it out of the It'scalled the insider baseball
terminology, but Freemasonry isabout friendship, personal
developments, community.
We align ourselves with corevalues and how do we, how do we
(23:26):
be known as that guy versusdon't be that guy, someone of
integrity, someone of kindness,but an ongoing discussion we
have is that just because wesay, Hey, I align myself with
these core values.
I believe in that, or yes, weall.
Coalesce around that there's adifference between saying the
(23:47):
words and living it and puttingit into action in your life, and
you really hit a Well, that'sawfully nice of you to read.
I have a friend of mine who saysyou can either be a net giver or
a net taker.
And I think sometimes we allneed to take a personal
inventory to find out are you anet giver or are you a net
(24:08):
taker.
We all have friends who onlycall us when they need
something.
Are you doing that?
We all have friends who, youknow, I always joke around is
you have a friend for the firsthalf hour of the conversation,
we'll talk about himself.
And then you'll say, okay, nowthat I'm done talking about me,
why don't you talk about me forthe next half hour?
(24:28):
Be careful not to be the hero ofyour own story.
And, uh, you know, be carefulnot to play the but game.
That's where you say, uh, well,I, uh, I shot a 78 golfing the
other day and the wind was, youknow, the wind was 20 miles an
hour.
I'll follow up with Yeah, but I,in a driving rainstorm, I shot a
77 two years ago or, you know,or like, you know, your success,
(24:53):
I can top that.
The yeah, but game, it's not agoal to one up someone, but it
inevitably happens in wantingto, maybe the desire is to
relate to someone's story and toput their own spin on it.
But man, it'd be curiosity andlistening until it hurts go a
long way.
Well, it's, it's what I kind ofstarted with when I talked
(25:15):
about, when I first startedspeaking, you know, it was all
about me.
And when the world changed iswhen I made it all about other
people.
And you can never be the hero inyour own story.
I didn't tell my story, I, Ididn't tell my cancer story, I
only pulled that out, you know,for certain audiences.
I all of a sudden realized, howcan I change this so I'm not the
(25:37):
hero, my cancer story?
And I worked really hard and Iworked with a coach on it.
And because, because, you know,it was a lot of positivity.
Mm-hmm A lot of positiveattitude and whatever.
I put a lot of humor in it and,and was able to change it.
So it makes the message, I'm notthe hero of the story.
I was the lucky guy in thestory.
so, and, and by the way, um, Iwent to the Masonic Cancer
(25:59):
Center at the University ofMinnesota.
So Did you Yeah.
So, so it, it all kind ofaligns, doesn't it?
Big time.
Yeah.
How are you today?
If you don't mind sharing moreabout health and then we're very
Interested in hearing firsthandfrom someone who's been at one
of our many facilities at the Uof M Yeah, I had well, I guess I
still have lymphoma and it'sit's in remission right now and
(26:21):
I, I went, I went to theMasonic, uh, Cancer Center so
long, I've had two doctorsretire on me.
I mean, because I'd always haveto go back for checkups and the
first guy was terrific.
He retired.
Then all of a sudden the secondguy is going to retire.
And anyway, the third guy said,you know, Joe, you're 10 years
out.
You don't have to come hereanymore.
But I said, I like coming here.
(26:42):
so I'm, I'm now, they would sayI'm, I'm pretty much, um, I'm in
remission, so I still knock onwood, you know, because.
You know, I realize there aremany other people who aren't as
lucky as I am.
You know, Flip Saunders, youknow, of the Timberwolves.
Yes.
Pretty much had the same type oflymphoma I had.
(27:03):
I don't take that for grantedand I realized how lucky I am.
As we get older, we all seem toacknowledge how fast time goes.
Time is so fleeting that adecade took an eternity when we
were younger, and now it's just,it's so fleeting.
What would you say is thebiggest light bulb that you've
had?
(27:23):
How often do you get feedbackfrom an audience member at this
point in your career now ofhaving this impact on so many
people and audiences?
Where How often do you getfeedback from an audience member
even after, well after thespeaking engagement has passed
of really giving somebody thatmotivation to be the person
having that quiet, silentimpact?
(27:45):
It's, it's more rewarding thanthe check you get.
that, that really is the thingthat is, uh, that keeps you
going.
and, and I do get a few of thoseand it's always very nice.
And the other thing that'sinteresting, Reed, is that
people will remember differentthings.
Some people might remember theJoe Mauer story.
Some people might remember somecomment I made about listening.
(28:06):
Some people might, you know, I,I talk about getting out of your
comfort zone.
Some people might remember that.
And, uh, you know, you weretalking about as we get older.
I think it's really important toget out of your comfort zone
because when you're out of yourcomfort zone that's when the
growth happens and Yeah, I toldI think I told this at the thing
my wife and I put together alist a couple of years ago All
(28:27):
the things we want to do therest of our lives, you know,
we're in the last third here Youknow, unfortunately, you have to
say that, but we are, and it wasthe things we want to do, the
people we want to spend timewith, and then we ranked them in
priority, but the priority wasnot what we wanted to do first.
The priority was, let's get allthe physical things out of the
way.
We can take that river cruisewhen we're 75.
(28:49):
can't we can't hike up amountain and go spend some time
with mountain gorillas, which wedid over the holidays.
We can't we can't do that.
Maybe when we're 75 becausemaybe one of us needs a hip
replacement, you know, life goeslife gets in the way.
And then I read this book calledThe Comfort Crisis, and it
basically tells you get out ofyour comfort zone, try things,
say yes.
And I think, I think too manytimes people play it too safe.
(29:12):
you know, the only way you learnis if you make a mistake, or at
least try something.
The old phrase, someday nevercomes.
Oh yeah.
If I have another person tell methat, uh, someday they're going
to write a book, write the damnbook.
If I didn't get set up, I waslike, you sit there, you could
talk about it all day.
Write it.
If it's terrible, that's atleast you wrote it.
(29:32):
Start somewhere, even if it'sjust fragmented thoughts day
after day.
Yeah.
Write the damn book.
Right, right.
Write the damn book.
If you, if you want to gethealthier, you know, walk around
the block, start somewhere.
And then, you know, the wholekey to the entire thing is, is
being consistent.
It's just a little growth at atime.
(29:53):
And, And like I said earlier,we'll all make mistakes, but if
you can kind of get consistentthat it becomes a habit, that it
becomes part of who you are,becomes part of your DNA, yeah,
that's when it just becomes alot easier.
how might we get that 25 to 30year old?
Take notice and I, I can't getoff of the, of that line of when
(30:14):
you align your actions with yourvalues, it's actions with your
values and the purpose happens.
What's a starting point forsomeone who's listening today,
it's not a complicated startingpoint, is it?
Yeah, it's, you know, I thinksometimes people have to, you
know, people do it on their owntime.
You know, sometimes you havelate bloomers, sometimes you
(30:34):
have people who jump right onit.
but I think you can go to theold Nike ad, just do it.
Just do it.
When in doubt, do it.
When in doubt, you know, go tothat party.
When in doubt, go on that trip.
When in doubt, go to thatfuneral.
You know, we've all had thatwhere we've had to make that
choice.
and, and I think we learn, youknow, we learn and we grow from
our mistakes, you know, with,with age comes wisdom, you know,
(30:57):
and, and at a certain point, youknow, I, I think people kind of
have to get over the hill alittle bit and they have to
really find out what makes themhappy, what, what makes them
tick the one line that I gotfrom a, a fellow speaker, which
I stole from and I use all thetime is, you know, use what you
got to get what you want.
(31:18):
You know, we, we all havespecial gifts and we all have
things we're not very good atwhere people get out of whack is
when somebody tells them, youknow what, when you go to
college, you ought to studymarketing, you know, and, and
then they go to marketing andyou know what the great thing
about that is, then they have tohire motivational speakers like
me, because everybody in theircompanies is having a terrible
time.
So, so that works.
(31:38):
Okay, but, but, you know, dowhat you want to do and, um, you
know, what really trips yourfancy, what gets you going?
And if you don't have that, thenyou got to keep digging to find
it, because there's somethingout there for you.
Wasn't it the Jack Kerouacquote?
Because in the end you won'tremember the time spent working
(32:00):
in the office or mowing yourlawn.
Climb that damn mountain.
Yep, and it's, it's uh, I guessI took the read, write your damn
book.
But it's, it's It's the samekind of thing if you don't, if
you don't try it and trysomething new and challenge
yourself and, um, sometimes youhave to be brave enough to find
new friends, you know, newgroups of friends.
(32:22):
And, and then once you havethose friends, you have to
realize you have to work onthose relationships.
And too many people get caughtup in, I'm always the one who
calls.
You know what?
That might be your role.
It might not be in theirwheelhouse.
It's like when you call, do theysay, why did you call?
No, they're happy to hear fromyou.
But sometimes that might be yourrole.
(32:43):
So pick up the doggone phone andcall.
Get off social media.
I mean, that's the other thing Iwould just tell kids is, you
know, don't, don't, when you,when you're on social media, you
play the comparison game.
no one wins in the comparisongame.
It steals your joy try to figureout how to get rid of all the
negativity in your life.
And, and as I said, sometimesthose might be friends.
(33:05):
You know, I, I got rid of somefriends over the years just
because I thought, you know,that season's over.
You know, they, they no longerfit into what I want to do.
Their values don't match withmine.
Friends and big air quotes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, uh, you know, sometimesthey're acquaintances and I I
say it's like rings on a treeand, and you're, you're in the
(33:28):
middle.
Sometimes you have to push afriend out a ringer too.
That's true.
When you add the social mediaelement that we all use probably
too much, Perhaps if we were toall put the device away.
And have a conversation ofcuriosity.
Like you said, instead oftelling about I, me, my, all of
the time, more about the personthat we are with and knowing we
(33:51):
talk about this a lot in thepodcast, too, knowing what's
going on in each other's lives,the good, the bad, the
struggles.
Having that meaningfulconnection is far more powerful
than we give credit.
And there are a lot of lonelypeople out there.
I mean, I think the SurgeonGeneral, basically called it the
next pandemic.
And, you know, it's one reasonI'd mentioned before, we're
(34:12):
trying to do a documentary onthe Joe Mauer story and how all
these great things have happenedout of it.
And one of the reasons we'redoing it is we want to hit These
high school kids and evencollege kids that are lonely
and, and are struggling and showthem that, you know what, that's
not the time to curl up in thefetal position.
(34:33):
That's kind, that's the time togo do something kind.
That's the time to go volunteer.
That's, that's, that's the timeto push yourself into that
different area and that will getyou out of it.
The next thing you know, you'llmeet people that are like, like,
like you.
I mean, I think that's why theMasonic, that's why it works.
Yes, definitely.
The commitment to becoming thatbetter version of ourselves is a
(34:56):
real appeal I'm finding,especially with young men that.
Want to meet not necessarily menor people just like them, but
that do coalesce around corevalues of being known for
integrity, being known forgoodness or kindness Respecting
each other's differences at thesame time is a, is a really big
(35:20):
part of that social media,obviously a real, shall we say
pain in the butt?
Yes.
And it only adds to thedivisiveness of, of, of when we,
we just focus on, we spend somuch time on social media,
focusing on what we're againstor what makes us angry versus
what makes us happy.
What did I do?
(35:40):
What did you do?
That, that was.
Uplifting that gave you a senseof purpose.
There, there really could besomething said about less screen
time and more face to face.
Let's get back into therelationship business.
Shall we?
You know, it's kind of funny.
They they call them the softskills.
Yes.
You know that I look at it.
Just the opposite.
I think they're the hard skills.
(36:01):
They're the hard skills tomaster because you've got to be
thinking about it a little bit.
It's got to be, you know, that'sthat awareness that I talk
about.
It's it's easy to be a toughguy.
It's easy to be negative.
It really is.
It is.
You know, it's a it's a heck ofa lot easier.
Joe.
I feel like we could chat forseveral hours on several topics.
It's difficult to keep thissuccinct.
(36:21):
as we wind down today.
Tell us perhaps a aspect ofyourself that the TV viewer
doesn't know.
What else do you like to do forfun hobbies?
Probably the one thing peopledon't realize about me is there
are times of the year that I goto theater more than I go to
sporting events, but let meexplain.
My wife directs plays inBloomington.
(36:45):
She directs plays in BloomingtonJefferson, Bloomington Kennedy,
and the summer program.
She started a a small children'stheater camp in our backyard
with neighborhood kids 25 yearsago.
Well, it has since grown.
My daughter, who is also intheater and also directs plays,
took over the camp.
(37:05):
It's called Children's FantasyTheater, and now it's run out of
a church in Bloomington.
They have a full summer session,so they're always doing plays.
And then my other daughter was aBFA at Drake, a Bachelor of Fine
Arts, so she went through thewhole acting, directing thing.
She now lives in Des Moines.
She's directing plays downthere.
(37:25):
Not only do I see all theirplays, but we were just in New
York seeing my son, who lives inNew York, and of course, what
did we do?
We hit Broadway.
My wife and my daughter sawthree plays.
I only saw one.
My son and I had a couple thingswe wanted to do together, so I
only saw one and it was aterrific play.
So, that would probably be theside of me that people are going
(37:46):
to be a little bit surprised on.
I mean, the fact that if DaddyWarbucks got sick before a play.
I could go and take his spot andrecite his lines.
No kidding.
what's your favorite play ormusical of all time?
Could you pick just one?
That's really hard.
I, you know what?
I think I would probably say,um, Les Mis.
(38:07):
And, um, I mean, I, I like, Ilike wicked and I like, um,
other ones, but Les Mis was, mywife and I were on vacation and
we were in Vancouver, in wefound out that, Long story
short, we went down there.
Got there two minutes before theplay started and they saved like
these VIP tickets in caseanybody big shows up like the
(38:29):
prime minister or something.
We ended up getting two tickets,second or third row, right smack
dab in the middle and we sawthis amazing play which I knew
nothing about.
I knew nothing about it and itwas like, this is the most
amazing thing I've ever seen.
Were you sitting next to adignitary?
Was the Prime Minister there?
No, there was, there was no bigshots there.
And everybody was looking at uslike, you know, you know, who
(38:52):
are those guys?
Should I know who he is?
He and his wife?
They look like a couple ofYankees.
Excellent.
Well, I really appreciate youstopping by and chatting today.
And it was, again, it was sogreat to have you at our Masonic
Leadership Academy in St.
Cloud a few weeks ago.
Silent Impact.
Truly remarkable in somethingthat anyone and everyone can get
(39:16):
on board with.
Well, thank you.
It's, uh, it's become mymission.
It's my passion.
I've been blessed with theability to tell stories and tell
other people stories.
yeah, I, I'm gonna do this foras, as long as people will
listen to me.
KSTP channel fives, Joe Schmidt.
Thank you so much for being withus today.
You bet Reed.
It's been outstanding.
(39:36):
This has been another episode ofMinnesota Masonic histories and
mysteries.
Hello again, everyone.
(00:00):
Welcome back.
It's another episode ofMinnesota Masonic Histories and
Mysteries.
My guest today is a naturalstoryteller who knows how to
engage audiences in a way thatleaves them feeling inspired.
He was inducted into theNational Speakers Association,
Minnesota Chapter Speakers Hallof Fame in 2019.
Through research, he hasdiscovered that through silent
(00:23):
impact, we make our biggestimpressions when we are not
trying to be impressive.
And that is what silent impactis all about.
Success and happiness are notrelated to titles or how many
awards we've won, but to theimpact we all have on others.
With over 30 years of experienceas a television broadcaster, he
(00:45):
has a knack for asking the rightquestions and helping people of
different personalities cometogether for a common purpose.
The Silent Impact mindset is agame changer, and I know this
because our guest spoke at theGrand Lodge Leadership Academy
earlier this month.
You know our guests from Channel5 on KSDP.
Welcome to our studio, JoeSchmidt.
(01:06):
Well, thank you, Reid.
It's great to be here again.
It was really fun to speak atyour leadership event, too.
Well, and having heard you speaka few weeks ago, Before we
discuss that and Silent Impact,tell us more about you.
Where did you grow up?
Where'd you go to school?
I grew up in a small townoutside Green Bay called
Seymour, Wisconsin, about 13miles from Green Bay.
(01:28):
And I went to school at theUniversity of Wisconsin La
Crosse.
We like to call it the Harvardof the Midwest.
Um, it's really, but, uh, youknow, I went to school read with
the idea.
I wanted to be a TVsportscaster.
Really?
Yeah.
From way back all the way.
Yeah.
You know, I was a high schoolathlete and I was a pretty
average athlete, but I lovedsports And I all of a sudden
(01:49):
realized I was never going toget a college scholarship.
And somebody said to me, youknow, Schmidt with your love of
sports and your big mouth, youought to become a sportscaster.
And really, it was the firsttime It even crossed my mind,
and from that day on, I wantedto be a sportscaster.
Being an average athlete myselfin those formative years of
school, what sports were youpassionate about, or what did
(02:10):
you play?
Well, in high school at thattime, we could only play three
sports.
If we could play more, I wouldhave.
I, I played football, Iwrestled, and I played baseball,
but I golfed and, you know, Idid, did a bunch of other stuff
too, you know, with, with, uh,friends and, you know, I always
say we didn't have ESPN backthen yet.
If we had ESPN, I would havebeen sitting there watching TV
(02:32):
like crazy.
I learned math by studying boxscores and I knew everybody, you
could name a major league teamand I could run through their.
Batting order and they're lyingup.
Really?
Yeah.
I was that crazy back then.
So it's probably a good thingthat SportsCenter wasn't around
yet.
what was your favorite baseballteam in growing up?
I liked, uh, the Atlanta Bravesand Hank Aaron.
(02:54):
So, uh, I followed Hank Aaron onhis pursuit of Babe Ruth and in
my house in Seymour, the radio.
So I would go.
We'd go upstairs in the upstairsbathroom, and I could get WSB at
7 50 a.
m.
And I listened to Hank Aaron,probably from about 650 home
runs past 7 14.
(03:16):
Wow.
And that radio station was thatlocal?
Was that a flamethrower fromsomewhere across the country?
Because look, flamethrower.
Yeah, it was Atlanta.
It was, uh, skip carry.
and his son, I don't think itwas related to Harry Carey, but
his son became a big broadcastertoo.
for years, uh, you know, um,that, that was my deal.
Even back then we didn't evenhave jerseys for sale.
(03:39):
Out of sporting news, I bought at shirt that said property of
the Atlanta Braves and I worethat sucker out.
But You know, you think back tothe day that marketing people
weren't even thinking in mind,you know, if we made a Hank
Aaron Jersey, some kids mightspend money and buy it.
I would have had five of them.
that's very true.
How did that not cross someone'smind along the way that we could
(04:02):
sell souvenirs?
On a mass scale that would verylikely turn a few dollars.
Yeah.
Think about the souvenirs fromback in those days in sports,
you might get a pennant andit's, yeah, you might get a
button, but nobody did peoplenot know what marketing was.
I mean, seriously, all the moneythey left on the table.
Now, of course, they'll sellanything.
(04:24):
They'll sell their soul to makemoney.
Anybody who's been to Fenwaypark can now see the other side
of the.
Yeah.
It's, it's pretty universalright now.
It's, uh, The whole game haschanged.
It's, it really is about moneyand it has gone down to the
college level and.
You know, the N I l and themoney these kids can now make.
It's kind of wrecking the purityof the sport.
(04:46):
And, you know, there's so manygood athletes and good stories.
But, uh, and I don't want to bethe old guy who said back in the
old days, but it is different.
I agree.
And I wish we had time to devoteto an entire episode about the
transfer portal in college.
But that really is.
And maybe I sound like the oldguy, but there was something
magical about a team hockeyteam, basketball that started
(05:08):
out as freshmen.
Maybe they didn't have a greatseason, but they came together
the chemistry factor by the timethey're seniors, they went to
the playoffs, they won thetitle.
Whatever that looks like.
The ability of a player now tobe frustrated and say, You know
what?
I'm not getting enough playingtime.
I'm not getting enough whatever.
And I'm just going to bail andgo someplace else.
It's a little grass is alwaysgreener.
(05:30):
Is it not?
Oh, yeah.
But you know, how would you liketo be a coach?
You're trying to develop one ofthese kids and you yell at them,
you push them, you get them outof their comfort zone.
And the next thing you know,they leave because you're
yelling at them and you'repushing them and you're getting
them out of their comfort zone.
Yeah.
And that's that's what'shappened.
And, uh, yeah.
I would hate to be a coachtoday, but I once again, I
(05:51):
don't, you either adapt to thewhat's going on or, you know, or
it passes you by.
So true.
We have to keep our focus movingforward.
On all fronts of life.
Now, how did you end up fromWisconsin in Minnesota?
Did your journey take youelsewhere before you ended up in
Minneapolis St.
Paul?
I worked in La Crosse at a smallTV station there.
(06:12):
I started my junior year incollege.
And then I went to Cedar Rapids,Iowa for one year.
And then I worked in Green Bay,my home market.
I was called to, had a chancethere.
And I worked there for fiveyears and I was Probably
planning on being a lifer, but Ihad my, is that all there is
moment.
I decided to, as my contract wascoming up, I decided to send out
(06:34):
a few tapes just to see what wasout there.
And KSTP came a calling and um,and I took it and I've been here
since 1985.
Forty years.
That seems impossible.
I know it does seem impossible.
It's, it's been, it's been crazyand I blame myself for a lot of
the failure in Minnesota sportsbecause Minnesota of all the
(06:56):
major markets, when you look atthe four main male professional
sports, obviously the links havedone very well.
Yes.
But when you look at the fourmain professional sports, any
market in the country that hasthose, Minnesota's has the
longest drought right now.
The last time they won achampionship in men's sports was
91 with the Minnesota Twins.
(07:17):
I mean, the hockey team, thebasketball team, nobody stumbled
into a championship in all thoseyears, which is crazy.
But you're taking the blame?
I'm taking the blame.
I think that once if I, when Iretire, I think then they're
going to start winning just totick me off.
You can say, I was there when.
Yeah.
Exactly.
I don't understand.
(07:37):
so you've obviously seen somevery big moments working right
next to say the twins and theirrun in 87 and 91 and other
playoff, shall we say, well,aspirations of the other sports,
but how amazing has that been tohave that front row seat?
I consider myself pretty luckyyou know, the business is
obviously changed and I thinkthe way.
(07:59):
I like being in great venuesthat have great energy and there
are great storylines.
the big events are great.
You know, going to a Super Bowlis great, but, but at the same
time, you can have just as muchfun at an MIAC game or a high
school game or the state highschool hockey tournament.
(08:20):
where it's all kind of naturaland grassroots, and it just kind
of happens.
And that's happened inprofessional sports, too.
You know, I think back to whenthe Twins had their homecoming
in 87.
They had just won the AmericanLeague pennant, and they came
back from Detroit, and they hadthis rally at the Metrodome, and
they expected 10, 000 people.
There were 60, 000 people there.
The players were crying.
(08:40):
It was unbelievable.
One of the great moments that Ican certainly remember.
I know you've been covering alot of sports, but.
As far as covering.
I know this past weekend.
You were covering the girls highschool tournament is, Is there
an area that you really enjoy?
Or is it all sort of blurtogether?
Well, the good thing is aboutthe time you get tired of
(09:00):
football or baseball or hockey.
There's another season.
And there are so many sportsgoing on here.
I never get bored.
Um, you know, there are times aseason can get long.
No, I, uh, I pretty much, I gofor the stories and, and, you
know, you as a journalist,you're not really supposed to
root for the home team, but Iroot for the home team just
(09:21):
because then they're morerelevant.
The stories are better.
You know, it's, you get a littlemore coverage, you get more time
on the air, all those kinds ofthings.
It's a lot more fun to cover awinning team than having to be
negative and going and rippingthem the heck because they're,
you know, they, they're doingterrible on the field.
So true.
And speaking of the connection,when you spoke at our Leadership
(09:41):
Academy a few weeks ago, you hada very powerful story about Joe
Maurer that you shared.
Can you give us a recap of thatfor our listeners that may not
be familiar?
Yeah.
Joe Maumer when he was in highschool.
You got to realize he was thebig man on campus.
Joe was simply the best highschool athlete the state of
Minnesota has ever produced.
He could have been a snobwalking around with his head
(10:01):
held high above everybody.
Joe saw a young student who wasblind, eating by himself in the
lunchroom, and Joe invited himto sit down at his table.
And it became an everyday thingwhere Joe literally walked Mike
Halle, arm in arm, down thehallway, invite him to sit down
to lunch.
I knew about that story forabout 15 years and didn't do
(10:22):
anything on it.
When I started speaking aboutpeople who make an impact, when
I got into the whole idea onsilent impact, which is the
title of my first book, I said,this is the perfect story.
So not only did I talk to Joe, Italked to Mike, I talked to six
guys who sat around that tableevery day and I started seeing
how much impact this one move ofkindness had.
(10:45):
Well, this story is, has gone onto You know, other heights, a
charity started because of it.
A woman read the story in thebook and was inspired and
started a mental health charityfor junior high and high school
kids.
uh, Joe and I got together withhis wife and we decided to write
a book and we've been able toraise 125, 000 so far for two
(11:06):
different charities.
All the proceeds going to thumbsup for mental health, the
charity that started and theHighland Friendship Club, which
is Joe Mauer's favorite charity.
So So the, uh, basically the onesmall act of kindness is having
this pinwheel effect.
You know, it's the snowballgoing down the, the hill and
it's just gaining momentum andmomentum and you'll hear about
(11:28):
something coming up in about midMarch.
Excellent.
And the information you sharedat the academy, you had a video
to go with this, it became veryapparent immediately that Joe
didn't do this to be showy or tosay, Hey, look at me.
I'm.
He just out of the kindness ofhis heart, made a very sincere
(11:48):
gesture towards someone That issomething so needed in our world
now with kindness and, and I'vereally enjoyed your book, by the
way, silent Impact, looking atthings a little differently.
Maybe it's the social mediageneration where.
Sometimes people get preoccupiedwith I'm going to do an act of
kindness, but I'm going to takea selfie while I'm doing it,
(12:12):
which any act of kindness isgood.
However, there's a certain levelof influence and impact that can
be very subtle and yet powerful.
And you really nailed that.
And then it becomes contagious.
Because other people do it too.
And you'll do it again becauseit makes you feel better inside.
And when you talked about, youknow, Joe Mauer, I've covered
(12:35):
them all.
You gotta realize I've been herelong enough and covered every
major professional or amateurathlete in Minnesota.
Joe Mauer is the most humblesuperstar I've ever met.
That's who he is.
That's who Joe is yet today.
I tell the story as Joe and Iwere working on the book, I
mean, this is just the kind ofthing that you hear stories,
(12:56):
well, it just happens, ithappens.
So I was talking to Joe on thephone, it's a Saturday, and I
said, Joe, you're in the car,where are you at?
He goes, well, I'm about 50miles out of Wichita, Kansas.
I said, what are you doing inWichita?
Well, when Joe was in highschool, he played on Team USA
two years in a row, and twoyears in a row, um, A family
from outside Wichita put him upin their home for a week while
(13:19):
he practiced with Team USA,because that's where they
practiced.
He was going to their 50thwedding anniversary.
No kidding.
And I'm sitting there going,hold it.
So this family who, you know, 30years ago or 25 years ago.
Right.
You know, they put you, housedyou for two weeks.
He stayed in contact with themall the time.
They went to a lot of his games.
(13:40):
And on his own, you know, he gotinvited, I would have blown it
off, right?
I'm not going to Wichita for aparty.
Send a card.
Yeah, send a card, flowers, youknow, whatever.
Here's Joe, flew to Wichita,rented a car and was driving 50
miles.
But, but so that tells you whathis heart is and it tells you
who he is.
And there's story after story onthat.
(14:01):
Because of that, he makes thistremendous impact.
Imagine what it felt like tothese people to have.
A Hall of Fame baseball playerwalk into this party, can't even
fathom.
Yeah.
Special memory beyonddescription.
The story of Joe is amazing.
I bet we could talk about thatfor an extended amount of time
on this podcast.
I'd like to hear more about whatled to the creation of the book
(14:25):
of Silent Impact.
Was it a series of thingshappening beyond Joe's story or
how, how did you, how did itcome about?
Well, because I'm on TV and youknow, I'm, I'm no different than
anybody else, but I just happento work in public.
Um, you get asked to speak at alot of different events,
(14:45):
athletic banquets, you know,Optimist Clubs, Lions Clubs,
Chamber of Commerces, MasonicLeadership Academy.
Well, but, but I'm talking aboutin the early days, early days,
and I used to go and I would saywhat it was like to be in the
locker room in the 80 with sevenand 91 world series.
And what it was like coveringRandy boss.
And I quickly realized I wasgoing to dislocate my shoulder
(15:07):
patting myself in the back.
It was all about me.
And I, I, it took me, I don'tknow how I realized it.
I think some guy said, uh, someguy said something afterwards,
he goes, that was a pretty goodname dropping speech and it hit
me.
Talk about a silent impact.
And all of a sudden I realized Ihave to start telling better
stories and stories that caninspire people.
(15:29):
So that's what I did.
I changed my tone.
And right about that time I, Iran into a guy who used to cover
for the Minnesota Gophers by thename of Walter Bond.
And Walter Bond is one of thetop professional speakers in the
country.
Walter heard me speak at anevent.
And Walter said, we're havingcoffee tomorrow, I said, okay.
(15:50):
And when he said, you got tobecome a professional speaker,
here's what you got to do.
He gave me 10 things to do.
He was running a bootcamp in acouple of weeks.
I went down to Florida for thisbootcamp and I became a
professional speaker.
I did everything Walter said.
I had 10 things out of thatlist.
And one of them is I hired acoach, and I, I, I hired a coach
who I worked with, uh, probablyevery week for about two months,
(16:13):
we were going through all mystories and all my content, and
I really hadn't come up withwhat this is all about, and I
said, you know, it's, it's likethese people, I was telling her,
it's like these people have asilent impact on who they touch
and how they, you know, they,she said, what'd you say?
I said, Oh, it's like they havea silent impact.
She goes, that's the name ofyour first book.
That's the name of your speech.
(16:34):
That's what you're going to baseeverything off of.
Every single one of your storiesis about people who make an
impact and how they can be moreaware and intentional, the
impact they have.
That's when it changed.
That's when all of a sudden Ihad people calling me.
I had people saying, have youever spoken, you know, to, to
the Masonic?
You know, have you ever spokenhere?
Have you ever spoken there?
And, uh, you know, now I'mspeaking 50 times a year.
(16:58):
All over the country, and it'snot just a Minnesota thing
because they know me from TV,and I just signed a deal last
week with a company inConnecticut, you know, so.
Amazing.
Yeah, so, and it's been kind offun, and I have enough vacation
time, and I'm able to work itaround, and every once in a
while you'll get a nice wintertrip to Florida or something,
(17:20):
then my wife can come, we canextend for a few days, so,
Little sunshine doesn't hurt,especially this time of year as
we're recording in February.
as you go out and speak, how dopeople respond to perhaps the
uncomplicated way that we canhave a positive impact on those
around us?
Do you ever find that peoplefeel like, well, it can't be
(17:42):
this easy, or I have to do somebig showy production in order to
quantify my gratitude to someoneor to do an act of random
kindness.
Well, I think that sometimespeople kind of need to be
reminded.
I think we all kind of know it,sometimes you give them some
simple tools.
I think there's power in storiesand I don't use a lot of slides
(18:05):
in my presentation and onereason I don't is because when I
tell a story about my dad owninga bar, I want people to paint
that picture themselves.
It's like reading a book andthen going and seeing the movie.
What's the number one commenteverybody says?
The book is better.
You know why they do that?
Because they have painted theirown picture.
(18:26):
That character, they know who heis and what he looks like.
Or who she is and what she lookslike.
That bar, they know what itlooks like.
They have placed that somewherein the back of their mind.
And so, there is power in thesestories.
And I think, many times, thereaction I get from people is, I
was that person.
Or, they come and tell a storyabout someone who made an impact
(18:47):
on them.
And then I'll say, have you goneback and thanked them?
No.
I said, now that's your job.
You can have, you can return thevolley.
so it's, it's been veryrewarding that way.
I, I know sometimes that peopleactually think when they hire
me, I'm going to tell sportsstories.
Well, when I talk about JoeMaurer, there's no inside
pitches on Joe Maurer.
(19:07):
I'm not talking about what his,you know, batting average is
and, and, you know, how manytimes he was able to hit the
clutch.
Not at all.
I'm talking about him as a humanbeing who just happened to be a
Hall of Fame baseball player.
Will you tell the story of yourdad and the bar?
well, I grew up in a bar and mydad ran the bar.
And my dad had a gift and hisgift was he made everybody feel
(19:29):
like they were his best friend.
a long story short, this bar wasalso one of three places in a
small town that had the firealarm for the local volunteer
fire and rescue unit.
So when the fire alarm rang, weknew something was up and one
morning I was in the bar with mydad and The the phone rang and I
could see something was wrong.
Well, my dad really only had onebest friend and his name was Mr
(19:51):
Leash and what I found out laterthat call that morning.
Mr.
Leash had been killed in the caraccident and Anyway, I remember
my mom and dad were reallyreally sad at the time And Mr.
Leach had a son whose name wasDonnie.
I was nine years old at thetime, Donnie was eight.
And before I knew it, Donnie wascoming to all of our family
events.
Donnie would come whether it wasa basketball game or family
(20:13):
reunion, Donnie got invitedalong.
I lost track of Donny, eventhough I knew my dad was still
seeing him all those years.
And the next time I saw Donny, Iwas 25 years old and, and Donny
was crying, it was at my dad'sfuneral.
And I can still see it out of mymind's eye, Donny crying at my
dad's funeral.
And I thought, boy, my dadreally had an impact on Donny.
(20:36):
About a year before my fatherpassed away, I'd become involved
in the Big Brothers, LittleBrothers program.
I was matched up with a kid bythe name of Jim from a single
parent family.
I wasn't sure why I became a BigBrother.
After my dad's funeral, it tookme a while.
I was, I was running a charitygolf tournament in the Twin
(20:59):
Cities for Big Brothers, BigSisters.
And the executive director ofBig Brother says to me, you
know, Joe, through the years,your, your family's all come up
and supported you at thetournament.
I never met your dad.
He said, tell me about your dad.
And I started talking about mydad, and that's when it hit me.
My dad had been a big brother toDonnie.
I became involved in the BigBrothers because of the silent
(21:21):
impact my dad had on me.
I was not sure why I did.
Now it was crystal clear,because that's the way silent
impact works.
You know, This organization hereis all about values.
And if you can ride your valuesand be consistent on your values
(21:41):
That's when, and make valuesyour purpose, that's when you
can have an impact on others.
And you never know when you'regoing to have that impact.
You never know when the personsitting next to you is going
through something really heavyand they just need to feel
valued and acknowledged thatday.
and if you become more aware andintentional, that's when you
have that impact.
That's when you have that silentimpact.
(22:02):
And it can go on and on for along, long time.
I remember jotting down at ourMasonic Leadership Academy, you
said, when you align youractions with your values, that's
when purpose happens.
And it's a lot harder to do thanit sounds like, you know, how
consistent are you aligning youractions with your values when
(22:24):
nobody's looking?
it's funny, I, uh, I belong tothis men's group over 50.
We work, we work out togetherand we talk about things.
And, and one of the, one of thethings.
One of the lines that I rememberfrom this group is, what you eat
in private, you wear in public.
And I thought that was, Ithought that was very profound
(22:44):
because I think that's the wayvalues are too.
What you do in privateeventually shows up in public.
So, if you're a phony baloney,your values aren't going to
always be very consistent.
We all make mistakes, we're allgoing to slip, we're all going
to have moments we wish we hadback.
but if you try to be consistentand you try to do that one extra
(23:04):
impact every day, I think itreally changes things.
It's something we talk aboutfrequently in the Masonic
family.
we stand for many core values.
I try to take it out of the It'scalled the insider baseball
terminology, but Freemasonry isabout friendship, personal
developments, community.
We align ourselves with corevalues and how do we, how do we
(23:26):
be known as that guy versusdon't be that guy, someone of
integrity, someone of kindness,but an ongoing discussion we
have is that just because wesay, Hey, I align myself with
these core values.
I believe in that, or yes, weall.
Coalesce around that there's adifference between saying the
(23:47):
words and living it and puttingit into action in your life, and
you really hit a Well, that'sawfully nice of you to read.
I have a friend of mine who saysyou can either be a net giver or
a net taker.
And I think sometimes we allneed to take a personal
inventory to find out are you anet giver or are you a net
(24:08):
taker.
We all have friends who onlycall us when they need
something.
Are you doing that?
We all have friends who, youknow, I always joke around is
you have a friend for the firsthalf hour of the conversation,
we'll talk about himself.
And then you'll say, okay, nowthat I'm done talking about me,
why don't you talk about me forthe next half hour?
(24:28):
Be careful not to be the hero ofyour own story.
And, uh, you know, be carefulnot to play the but game.
That's where you say, uh, well,I, uh, I shot a 78 golfing the
other day and the wind was, youknow, the wind was 20 miles an
hour.
I'll follow up with Yeah, but I,in a driving rainstorm, I shot a
77 two years ago or, you know,or like, you know, your success,
(24:53):
I can top that.
The yeah, but game, it's not agoal to one up someone, but it
inevitably happens in wantingto, maybe the desire is to
relate to someone's story and toput their own spin on it.
But man, it'd be curiosity andlistening until it hurts go a
long way.
Well, it's, it's what I kind ofstarted with when I talked
(25:15):
about, when I first startedspeaking, you know, it was all
about me.
And when the world changed iswhen I made it all about other
people.
And you can never be the hero inyour own story.
I didn't tell my story, I, Ididn't tell my cancer story, I
only pulled that out, you know,for certain audiences.
I all of a sudden realized, howcan I change this so I'm not the
(25:37):
hero, my cancer story?
And I worked really hard and Iworked with a coach on it.
And because, because, you know,it was a lot of positivity.
Mm-hmm A lot of positiveattitude and whatever.
I put a lot of humor in it and,and was able to change it.
So it makes the message, I'm notthe hero of the story.
I was the lucky guy in thestory.
so, and, and by the way, um, Iwent to the Masonic Cancer
(25:59):
Center at the University ofMinnesota.
So Did you Yeah.
So, so it, it all kind ofaligns, doesn't it?
Big time.
Yeah.
How are you today?
If you don't mind sharing moreabout health and then we're very
Interested in hearing firsthandfrom someone who's been at one
of our many facilities at the Uof M Yeah, I had well, I guess I
still have lymphoma and it'sit's in remission right now and
(26:21):
I, I went, I went to theMasonic, uh, Cancer Center so
long, I've had two doctorsretire on me.
I mean, because I'd always haveto go back for checkups and the
first guy was terrific.
He retired.
Then all of a sudden the secondguy is going to retire.
And anyway, the third guy said,you know, Joe, you're 10 years
out.
You don't have to come hereanymore.
But I said, I like coming here.
(26:42):
so I'm, I'm now, they would sayI'm, I'm pretty much, um, I'm in
remission, so I still knock onwood, you know, because.
You know, I realize there aremany other people who aren't as
lucky as I am.
You know, Flip Saunders, youknow, of the Timberwolves.
Yes.
Pretty much had the same type oflymphoma I had.
(27:03):
I don't take that for grantedand I realized how lucky I am.
As we get older, we all seem toacknowledge how fast time goes.
Time is so fleeting that adecade took an eternity when we
were younger, and now it's just,it's so fleeting.
What would you say is thebiggest light bulb that you've
had?
(27:23):
How often do you get feedbackfrom an audience member at this
point in your career now ofhaving this impact on so many
people and audiences?
Where How often do you getfeedback from an audience member
even after, well after thespeaking engagement has passed
of really giving somebody thatmotivation to be the person
having that quiet, silentimpact?
(27:45):
It's, it's more rewarding thanthe check you get.
that, that really is the thingthat is, uh, that keeps you
going.
and, and I do get a few of thoseand it's always very nice.
And the other thing that'sinteresting, Reed, is that
people will remember differentthings.
Some people might remember theJoe Mauer story.
Some people might remember somecomment I made about listening.
(28:06):
Some people might, you know, I,I talk about getting out of your
comfort zone.
Some people might remember that.
And, uh, you know, you weretalking about as we get older.
I think it's really important toget out of your comfort zone
because when you're out of yourcomfort zone that's when the
growth happens and Yeah, I toldI think I told this at the thing
my wife and I put together alist a couple of years ago All
(28:27):
the things we want to do therest of our lives, you know,
we're in the last third here Youknow, unfortunately, you have to
say that, but we are, and it wasthe things we want to do, the
people we want to spend timewith, and then we ranked them in
priority, but the priority wasnot what we wanted to do first.
The priority was, let's get allthe physical things out of the
way.
We can take that river cruisewhen we're 75.
(28:49):
can't we can't hike up amountain and go spend some time
with mountain gorillas, which wedid over the holidays.
We can't we can't do that.
Maybe when we're 75 becausemaybe one of us needs a hip
replacement, you know, life goeslife gets in the way.
And then I read this book calledThe Comfort Crisis, and it
basically tells you get out ofyour comfort zone, try things,
say yes.
And I think, I think too manytimes people play it too safe.
(29:12):
you know, the only way you learnis if you make a mistake, or at
least try something.
The old phrase, someday nevercomes.
Oh yeah.
If I have another person tell methat, uh, someday they're going
to write a book, write the damnbook.
If I didn't get set up, I waslike, you sit there, you could
talk about it all day.
Write it.
If it's terrible, that's atleast you wrote it.
(29:32):
Start somewhere, even if it'sjust fragmented thoughts day
after day.
Yeah.
Write the damn book.
Right, right.
Write the damn book.
If you, if you want to gethealthier, you know, walk around
the block, start somewhere.
And then, you know, the wholekey to the entire thing is, is
being consistent.
It's just a little growth at atime.
(29:53):
And, And like I said earlier,we'll all make mistakes, but if
you can kind of get consistentthat it becomes a habit, that it
becomes part of who you are,becomes part of your DNA, yeah,
that's when it just becomes alot easier.
how might we get that 25 to 30year old?
Take notice and I, I can't getoff of the, of that line of when
(30:14):
you align your actions with yourvalues, it's actions with your
values and the purpose happens.
What's a starting point forsomeone who's listening today,
it's not a complicated startingpoint, is it?
Yeah, it's, you know, I thinksometimes people have to, you
know, people do it on their owntime.
You know, sometimes you havelate bloomers, sometimes you
(30:34):
have people who jump right onit.
but I think you can go to theold Nike ad, just do it.
Just do it.
When in doubt, do it.
When in doubt, you know, go tothat party.
When in doubt, go on that trip.
When in doubt, go to thatfuneral.
You know, we've all had thatwhere we've had to make that
choice.
and, and I think we learn, youknow, we learn and we grow from
our mistakes, you know, with,with age comes wisdom, you know,
(30:57):
and, and at a certain point, youknow, I, I think people kind of
have to get over the hill alittle bit and they have to
really find out what makes themhappy, what, what makes them
tick the one line that I gotfrom a, a fellow speaker, which
I stole from and I use all thetime is, you know, use what you
got to get what you want.
(31:18):
You know, we, we all havespecial gifts and we all have
things we're not very good atwhere people get out of whack is
when somebody tells them, youknow what, when you go to
college, you ought to studymarketing, you know, and, and
then they go to marketing andyou know what the great thing
about that is, then they have tohire motivational speakers like
me, because everybody in theircompanies is having a terrible
time.
So, so that works.
(31:38):
Okay, but, but, you know, dowhat you want to do and, um, you
know, what really trips yourfancy, what gets you going?
And if you don't have that, thenyou got to keep digging to find
it, because there's somethingout there for you.
Wasn't it the Jack Kerouacquote?
Because in the end you won'tremember the time spent working
(32:00):
in the office or mowing yourlawn.
Climb that damn mountain.
Yep, and it's, it's uh, I guessI took the read, write your damn
book.
But it's, it's It's the samekind of thing if you don't, if
you don't try it and trysomething new and challenge
yourself and, um, sometimes youhave to be brave enough to find
new friends, you know, newgroups of friends.
(32:22):
And, and then once you havethose friends, you have to
realize you have to work onthose relationships.
And too many people get caughtup in, I'm always the one who
calls.
You know what?
That might be your role.
It might not be in theirwheelhouse.
It's like when you call, do theysay, why did you call?
No, they're happy to hear fromyou.
But sometimes that might be yourrole.
(32:43):
So pick up the doggone phone andcall.
Get off social media.
I mean, that's the other thing Iwould just tell kids is, you
know, don't, don't, when you,when you're on social media, you
play the comparison game.
no one wins in the comparisongame.
It steals your joy try to figureout how to get rid of all the
negativity in your life.
And, and as I said, sometimesthose might be friends.
(33:05):
You know, I, I got rid of somefriends over the years just
because I thought, you know,that season's over.
You know, they, they no longerfit into what I want to do.
Their values don't match withmine.
Friends and big air quotes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, uh, you know, sometimesthey're acquaintances and I I
say it's like rings on a treeand, and you're, you're in the
(33:28):
middle.
Sometimes you have to push afriend out a ringer too.
That's true.
When you add the social mediaelement that we all use probably
too much, Perhaps if we were toall put the device away.
And have a conversation ofcuriosity.
Like you said, instead oftelling about I, me, my, all of
the time, more about the personthat we are with and knowing we
(33:51):
talk about this a lot in thepodcast, too, knowing what's
going on in each other's lives,the good, the bad, the
struggles.
Having that meaningfulconnection is far more powerful
than we give credit.
And there are a lot of lonelypeople out there.
I mean, I think the SurgeonGeneral, basically called it the
next pandemic.
And, you know, it's one reasonI'd mentioned before, we're
(34:12):
trying to do a documentary onthe Joe Mauer story and how all
these great things have happenedout of it.
And one of the reasons we'redoing it is we want to hit These
high school kids and evencollege kids that are lonely
and, and are struggling and showthem that, you know what, that's
not the time to curl up in thefetal position.
(34:33):
That's kind, that's the time togo do something kind.
That's the time to go volunteer.
That's, that's, that's the timeto push yourself into that
different area and that will getyou out of it.
The next thing you know, you'llmeet people that are like, like,
like you.
I mean, I think that's why theMasonic, that's why it works.
Yes, definitely.
The commitment to becoming thatbetter version of ourselves is a
(34:56):
real appeal I'm finding,especially with young men that.
Want to meet not necessarily menor people just like them, but
that do coalesce around corevalues of being known for
integrity, being known forgoodness or kindness Respecting
each other's differences at thesame time is a, is a really big
(35:20):
part of that social media,obviously a real, shall we say
pain in the butt?
Yes.
And it only adds to thedivisiveness of, of, of when we,
we just focus on, we spend somuch time on social media,
focusing on what we're againstor what makes us angry versus
what makes us happy.
What did I do?
(35:40):
What did you do?
That, that was.
Uplifting that gave you a senseof purpose.
There, there really could besomething said about less screen
time and more face to face.
Let's get back into therelationship business.
Shall we?
You know, it's kind of funny.
They they call them the softskills.
Yes.
You know that I look at it.
Just the opposite.
I think they're the hard skills.
(36:01):
They're the hard skills tomaster because you've got to be
thinking about it a little bit.
It's got to be, you know, that'sthat awareness that I talk
about.
It's it's easy to be a toughguy.
It's easy to be negative.
It really is.
It is.
You know, it's a it's a heck ofa lot easier.
Joe.
I feel like we could chat forseveral hours on several topics.
It's difficult to keep thissuccinct.
(36:21):
as we wind down today.
Tell us perhaps a aspect ofyourself that the TV viewer
doesn't know.
What else do you like to do forfun hobbies?
Probably the one thing peopledon't realize about me is there
are times of the year that I goto theater more than I go to
sporting events, but let meexplain.
My wife directs plays inBloomington.
(36:45):
She directs plays in BloomingtonJefferson, Bloomington Kennedy,
and the summer program.
She started a a small children'stheater camp in our backyard
with neighborhood kids 25 yearsago.
Well, it has since grown.
My daughter, who is also intheater and also directs plays,
took over the camp.
(37:05):
It's called Children's FantasyTheater, and now it's run out of
a church in Bloomington.
They have a full summer session,so they're always doing plays.
And then my other daughter was aBFA at Drake, a Bachelor of Fine
Arts, so she went through thewhole acting, directing thing.
She now lives in Des Moines.
She's directing plays downthere.
(37:25):
Not only do I see all theirplays, but we were just in New
York seeing my son, who lives inNew York, and of course, what
did we do?
We hit Broadway.
My wife and my daughter sawthree plays.
I only saw one.
My son and I had a couple thingswe wanted to do together, so I
only saw one and it was aterrific play.
So, that would probably be theside of me that people are going
(37:46):
to be a little bit surprised on.
I mean, the fact that if DaddyWarbucks got sick before a play.
I could go and take his spot andrecite his lines.
No kidding.
what's your favorite play ormusical of all time?
Could you pick just one?
That's really hard.
I, you know what?
I think I would probably say,um, Les Mis.
(38:07):
And, um, I mean, I, I like, Ilike wicked and I like, um,
other ones, but Les Mis was, mywife and I were on vacation and
we were in Vancouver, in wefound out that, Long story
short, we went down there.
Got there two minutes before theplay started and they saved like
these VIP tickets in caseanybody big shows up like the
(38:29):
prime minister or something.
We ended up getting two tickets,second or third row, right smack
dab in the middle and we sawthis amazing play which I knew
nothing about.
I knew nothing about it and itwas like, this is the most
amazing thing I've ever seen.
Were you sitting next to adignitary?
Was the Prime Minister there?
No, there was, there was no bigshots there.
And everybody was looking at uslike, you know, you know, who
(38:52):
are those guys?
Should I know who he is?
He and his wife?
They look like a couple ofYankees.
Excellent.
Well, I really appreciate youstopping by and chatting today.
And it was, again, it was sogreat to have you at our Masonic
Leadership Academy in St.
Cloud a few weeks ago.
Silent Impact.
Truly remarkable in somethingthat anyone and everyone can get
(39:16):
on board with.
Well, thank you.
It's, uh, it's become mymission.
It's my passion.
I've been blessed with theability to tell stories and tell
other people stories.
yeah, I, I'm gonna do this foras, as long as people will
listen to me.
KSTP channel fives, Joe Schmidt.
Thank you so much for being withus today.
You bet Reed.
It's been outstanding.
(39:36):
This has been another episode ofMinnesota Masonic histories and
mysteries.
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